JEFFERSON CITY - Joplin's state senator unveiled Thursday a plan worked out with various education officials to avoid potential penalties to Missouri schools because of the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Missouri's MAP test would be reworked to conform with the national standards, under legislation introduced Thursday by Sen. Gary Nodler, R-Joplin.
Nodler said the MAP test was "totally unlinked" to the national standards. As a result, Missouri schools were unfairly being categorized as "failing," even though they were outperforming their peers in other states.
While federal law sets achievement goals, each state can define on its own just what it means to "succeed," as long as they meet certain minimums. But states that fail to meet their own goals can face heavy financial penalties under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Missouri schools have been using the old MAP test to measure their proficiency. But that test, developed before No Child Left Behind was passed, includes higher standards than the federal law requires. As a result, No Child Left Behind has rewarded Missouri's aiming high with a big slap in the face: declaring more of the state's schools as "failing."
"The way we define 'proficient' varies from those (national) standards," Nodler said, comparing Missouri schools with a jumping contest. Students from other states could jump a certain height and succeed, while Missouri students could jump even higher and yet be labeled a failure.
"The intent of the national system is to accurately measure, and our testing instruments do not allow us to do that," Nodler said. His bill calls on the State Board of Education to align the MAP test with the federal standard by 2006.
This would include lowering those Missouri standards that exceed the federal requirements.
"Educators don't want to lower their standards," said Rep. Maynard Wallace, R-Thornfield, who has introduced the House version of the legislation. "But they do feel we need to change the way we look at data."
"The No Child Left Behind Act has kind of created an incentive for a state to be tempted to lower its standards," said Otto Fajen, who represented the Missouri branch of the National Education Association.
Legislators took pains to avoid the word "lower" standards, preferring to refer to them as being "realigned" or "recalibrated." Still, the proposal clearly calls for new testing standards that "meet, but do not exceed," the national standards -- in effect lowering the bar for what Missouri students currently need to accomplish to pass the test.
Nodler was joined by leadership from both the House and Senate Thursday for a press conference, where they expressed support for pushing the bill through the legislature this session. Senate President Pro Tem Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, declared the measure a "priority for passage" this year.
Republican Floor Leader Sen. Mike Gibbons, R-St. Louis County, called the current testing situation "idiotic and ridiculous," saying Missouri students should "not be held back by some artificial standard."
But even those supporting the measure as a way of helping the state deal with No Child Left Behind said the bill did not address any of the problems inherent in the new federal law itself.
"I don't think you can make a correlation between this measure and saying that everything with No Child Left Behind is fine," said Mike Wood, director of governmental relations for the Missouri State Teachers Association.
Rep. Kevin Wilson, R-Neosho, called the MAP test bill "a positive first step," but said he was troubled that the federal government had gotten into the business of dictating standards to local school districts.
"I think No Child Left Behind will evolve over the next few years," Wilson said. But in the meantime, he said Missouri schools should not be penalized simply because they tried to hold themselves to a higher standard than schools in other states.
Wilson, who sits on the Education Committee -- which will take up the bill in the House -- said he'll be looking for assurances the measure will not place additional financial obligations on local school districts already strapped for cash.
"What are the additional mandates? What will be the costs?" Wilson said. "We've got to ask the tough questions."
The costs of revamping the MAP test have yet to be determined, although legislative research staff are currently working to prepare estimates. The federal government will provide about $7 million to Missouri to change its testing program, but whether that will be enough, and if not, where the additional funds will come from, will be debated by legislators when the bills go to committee in the next few weeks.